News

Joining voke plan comes at high price

Sending students to new school

By Matthew K. Roy
Staff writer
Published: November 9, 2009

PEABODY — The city would more than double what it annually spends to educate its vocational students if it joins the new regional vocational school district.

The city now spends $1.9 million a year in support of its in-house vocational programs. Sending students to the proposed Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School would cost Peabody an estimated $4.5 million a year.

"If anybody here is looking for a cost savings for doing this," City Councilor Dave Gravel said during a recent meeting of the council and School Committee, "it doesn't exist."

On top of the concern over cost is worry that the 175 spaces set aside for Peabody students at the new school will not be enough to serve the 514 students enrolled in the city's vocational programs.

Despite the challenges attached to joining the new district, Mayor Michael Bonfanti and Superintendent C. Milton Burnett want Peabody to participate.

"We've known from day one that vocational education costs more. That's a reality in life," Bonfanti said. "(But) in the long run, I think we will be giving a better education to our children."

Peabody is the largest of the 17 communities being asked to send students to a new regional high school, representing the merger of North Shore Technical High School and Essex Aggie, that is slated to open in 2013.

The state has pledged nearly $100 million to pay for the school, including $77.5 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and a commitment of $21.1 million from the governor.

The 16 cities and towns of the North Shore Regional Vocational School District plus Peabody are being asked to pay $31.2 million.

The regional school would eventually enroll 1,440 students at a 380,000-square-foot facility along Route 62 in Danvers.

If it joins the district, Peabody would be able to halt the vocational programs, including auto collision repair and automotive technology, now being taught to high school students in facilities at Higgins Middle School. The 96 students taking classes there would be guaranteed a spot at the regional school, Burnett said.

If it opts not to join, the city could be forced by accreditation requirements to consolidate its vocational programs at the high school's campus on Lowell Street. Building a new wing to make that possible could cost more than $32 million, according to a cost analysis generated by city-hired consultant Mark Abrahams of the Abrahams Group.

The project could not be put on a fast track because the city would need to finish its renovation of the middle school before it would be eligible for state money for the wing, Abrahams said.

With state funding, it would cost Peabody $3.3 million a year to run its vocational program and build a new wing. Without state help, it would cost $4.3 million, Abrahams found.

The high annual cost of joining the voke can be attributed to a $15,000 per pupil charge that adds up to $2.6 million for Peabody.

The city also has to compensate for the estimated loss of more than $700,000 in Chapter 70 aid and pay, on average, $431,455 in debt service.

"Financially, it's not a good deal," Ward 3 City Councilor Rico Mello said. "For the taxpayers of Peabody, it's like handing your wallet to a pickpocket."

Though Peabody would have substantial sway thanks to its weighted vote on a committee that oversees the district, Mello lamented the control the city would surrender if it joined the district. He said that, if the Peabody City Council were to reject the school's budget, it could be overridden if voters in other member communities passed a referendum.

School Committee member Beverley Dunne said she didn't want the education of vocational students who don't attend the new voke to suffer.

Proponents argued that the city couldn't provide students the first-class facilities and the diversity of offerings, 23 specialties in all, available at the new voke and Peabody's enrollment could swell to 250 by 2017. The city, meanwhile, would maintain vocational programs at the high school to keep students there engaged, Bonfanti said.

"If you want something and you think it's worth it, you got to pay for it," he said. If the council chooses, the city could raise the meals and hotel room tax in Peabody and put a portion of the revenue generated ($1.2 million a year) toward the cost of the regional voke, Bonfanti said.

The City Council will formally decide whether to join the new district at its meeting Nov. 19.

"We have no reason to ever even imply that we're going to do a better job with our vocational program then a regional school would," School Committee member David McGeney said. "Where's the evidence? We haven't done it for decades."

The city missed opportunities in the past to build a new high school and a vocational wing, he said.

"This opportunity will not come again," McGeney said. "It's the last chance to catch the lifeboat that's taking off."

Voke numbers

$15,000: Per-student cost to Peabody

175: Slots available to Peabody students

$2.6 million: Assessment based on per pupil cost

$431,455: Average annual debt payment over 32 years